Engraving of a bonanza farm printed in the November 1, 1879 edition of the Independent Farmer and Fireside Companion (page 174). The image celebrates the commercial possibilities of large-scale, mechanized, and systematized wheat farming in the Red River Valley.

Red Wing Iron Works, c.1890. Frances Densmore’s father Benjamin and his brother Daniel started Red Wing Iron Works in 1866. Its financial success allowed the family to support her studies at Oberlin Conservatory of Music.